HAM AND CHEESE PANINI

This is was a very yummy moist panini.
What I did was use chibatta buns. I split a bun and buttered the insides with olive oil margarine spread. I laid a nice size slice of smoked ham on one side of each bun, on the other side I placed thin slices of jack cheese then I added two slices of tomato and two fresh picked basil leaves. Put the two halves together and buttered the top with the olive oil margarine spread. I like the tomato and basil in the middle of a panini that way the cheese melts quicker and the tomato is somewhat protected from the high heat of the griddler. Yes I used my Cuisinart Griddler, such a great little appliance. 
To the side I served Italian pasta salad. I made this while my daughter was here and as always I made enough for a army.  Please tell my why when I make a pasta salad this always happens?  So we eat on this salad for days and days.
Anyhow we certainly enjoyed the panini's last night. The chibatta buns worked so well. They were quite plump but they compressed down nicely making for a crusty outside and tender inside. So it made for a chewy bite.


Tonight I am trying to use up as much as possible in my veggie bin. I buy fresh vegetables and fruits as you know at the farms every week. So we will have a simple spaghetti tonight with veggie marinara sauce and a green salad with garden vegetables and Italian dressing.


For two nights in a row we have had a scoop of Tillamook vanilla bean ice cream. This is rich thick creamy vanilla ice cream. I love the texture. I love to buy ice cream made in our state of Oregon. There are several wonderful dairy's that produce these super special ice creams. As well as Tillamook, there is Umpqua Dairy and Lockmead Dairy made just a few miles from where we live.
Over the top of this ice cream we added our local strawberries from just down the road. All I did was clean them and slice them. They are so so sweet and juicy, they are good this year though we have certainly had to wait for them to ripen. What is better than living in the northwest all this fresh abundance.
I saw this recipe called Strawberry cake pie. Now it looks wonderful and after reading the list of ingredients and how you put it together it sounds like a great desert. I am going to try this next week. So I will post photo's and critique the recipe. It very may well be a keeper.


Today is a decent day. It is pleasant out, mild in the low seventies. We have cloud cover but it is nothing more than fine gauze obscuring the sun.  Much better than the steaming heat that is overtaking much of our nation. Also those poor folks in Colorado Springs with that forest fire edging into their town. How unimaginable. I will take this any day, good old Oregon with it's moderate temps, occasional showers, bright sun breaks and huge whipped cream clouds floating over the lushest green valley in the world. 


I must get on with the rest of my chores today so I will leave now. I did manage a walk earlier and I have been out and about this morning running errands. So it has been a busy day so far. Time to get done with my to-do's and have some Zo time.


I actually wrote this a couple of days ago and  I am just posting it now. Well you can see how busy my life has been.
That is good I think.